Pakistan: PPP criticizes Punjab Governor for inviting Army's interference

Lahore [Pakistan], May 6 : Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Thursday criticized Punjab Governor Omar Sarfaraz Cheema for inviting the Army Chief to interfere in the political matters of the country and described it as "Playing with the Constitution" during his last few days in the office, local media reported.
"The governor has begun playing with the Constitution by taking an unconstitutional step of writing to the army chief to meddle in the Punjab politics where Hamza Shehbaz has taken oath as the chief minister after his win in the election held on the direction of the higher judiciary," PPP Parliamentary leader in the Punjab Assembly Syed Hassan Murtaza said.
He further said that the demand of the Governor from the Army to provide him with one subedar and four jawans to arrest the sworn-in Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz was an open violation of the constitution, Dawn newspaper reported.
Murtaza said that the province Governor Cheema would be popular in history for being the one who repeatedly violate the constitution, law, and norms of democracy by refusing to administer the oath of the CM despite court orders. He further said that Governor keep on transgressing his powers by seeking a report from the Punjab Assembly secretary on the elections to the slot of the CM, and inviting the Establishment to interfere in political matters.
PPP Parliamentary leader Murtaza said that Cheema should serve the Constitution, which is his prime responsibility instead of serving his party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. He also said that the PTI would soon be buried in the dustbin of history, reported Dawn.
Meanwhile, former MPA (Members of Provincial Assembly) and PPP member Faiza Malik said in a statement that since Imran Khan was ousted from powers through a no-confidence motion, PTI was doing its best to hatch one conspiracy or another against the government. She also said that the PTI's social media network was abusing the state institutions for not coming to rescue Imran Khan as the prime minister, while its appointed governor Cheema was inviting a state institution to interfere in Punjab affairs.
Malik said that on one hand, PTI is blaming the foreign conspiracy for his removal while on other hand, it was moving the UNO on flimsy grounds of victimization and thus exposing its double standards.
Referring to Imran Khan's statement where he stated that the four years of PTI rule ended the era of slavery for the freedoms, PPP Information Secretary Shehzad Saeed Cheema asked Khan to tell the voters of Mianwali how much development work he had got done in the constituency while in power.
He said "Imran Khan's spokesman" had nothing to say except to lie and slander. He said that the purpose of the 'puppet' Khan's call for a long march on Islamabad was nothing but to create chaos in the country.
A day earlier, Punjab's Governor said that he had requested the President and Army Chief to discuss the situation in the province with him.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Cheema said that he had decided to take legal action against the judge after consultations with professionals over the last two days.
He also termed the LHC Judge's verdict "illegal" and said that according to the honeycomb principle, no institution could "interfere" in the working of another institution.